Epic third-period collapse by Sharks

By Bill Ballou TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Saturday

Oct 30, 2010 at 12:30 AMOct 30, 2010 at 5:55 AM

There is a lot to be said for the idea that hockey fans need something a little different every once in a while. New players to watch, new goalie masks to look at, new styles of skating, new uniforms, et cetera.

There is a lot to be said for the idea that hockey fans need something a little different every once in a while.

New players to watch, new goalie masks to look at, new styles of skating, new uniforms, et cetera. So it's nice when a different team comes to the DCU Center, except that the folks who make out the schedule requests for the Sharks should ask for the Montreal Canadiens, the Vancouver Canucks or the Washington Capitals — somebody Worcester has at least a remote shot of beating.

Not the Rochester Americans.

The venerable Amerks, the AHL's second-oldest franchise, made their first trip here in Sharks' history, and their first of any kind since the IceCats days on Jan. 30, 2002, and the result was the same as it almost always has been.

A Rochester victory.

The Americans scored three unanswered goals in the third period to come back from a 3-1 deficit and beat the Sharks, 4-3, in one of the worst late-game collapses ever here. In 10 Worcester-Rochester games at the DCU Center through the years, Worcester has won one.

This year's Sharks have the worst goals against average in the league. They are the only team of 30 allowing at least four goals a game, and coach Roy Sommer was asked if it is goaltending, defense or lack of backchecking by the forwards.

“All of the above,” he said. “We give up four goals every night, and we can't score five. That's not good enough. We've got turnovers, our defensive zone play (stinks), and it's the same culprits every time.”

Jonathan Cheechoo, Matt Irwin and Nick Petrecki had the Worcester goals. Rochester got two from Chris Taylor, one from Evgeny Dadonov and the winning goal from Michael Repik.

It was 1-1 going into the third, and Irwin made it 2-1 at the 0:18 mark, popping a backhand rebound over Americans goalie Tyler Plante.

It was Irwin's first pro goal, although it was credited to Andrew Desjardins and has to be changed. Petrecki made it 3-1 with an unassisted goal at 2:10, and Worcester looked like it would be cruising from there.

But just as in Sunday's game against Norfolk, the Sharks fell apart with the 3-1 lead. Sunday, they got the fourth goal, but not this time. Dadonov scored at 5:27, then at 7:34 Taylor tomahawked a shot from the high slot that went through several sets of legs and finally Alex Stalock's skates.

That made it 3-3. Repik went over Stalock's left shoulder on his own rebound at 11:08 to make it 4-3. The Sharks tried to come back, but Plante was excellent, especially with the glove, and the game ended the same way almost every Rochester visit here has ended since 1994.

With the Worcester fans heading home disappointed.

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